Often, it is desired to confirm or authenticate the identity of a person. This may be done, for example, prior to allowing the person to enter a secure area, such as a place of employment, a governmental facility, a mode of transportation or an establishment where alcoholic beverages are served. Another context for confirming identification may be prior to allowing a person to perform certain transactions, such as making a credit purchase, receiving certain goods or receiving confidential information. Numerous other instances occur regularly in modern society in which the identity of a person requires authentication.
Typically, confirmation of the identity of a person is performed manually by someone, such as a clerk, comparing observed physical characteristics of the person to a photographic identification carried by the person. Examples of photographic identification include a driver's license, ID card and passport.
This manual technique has certain drawbacks. For example, it is subject to error. This is because only a short amount of time is typically available for verifying the identification of a person, while the clerk who is verifying the person's identification is often untrained. In addition, the observed physical characteristics are not expected to match the photographic identification exactly. This due to changes, such as aging of the person and changes in hairstyle, hair color and weight, which often occur after the photograph or other information is obtained. Further, photographic identification is subject to tampering, such as by replacement of the photograph with that of another person.
Some automated techniques have been attempted for authenticating identity using biometrics, such as fingerprint, iris or facial image scanning and voice recognition. However, none of these techniques has yet gained widespread acceptance. This is likely due to several factors, such as high costs of equipment to perform these techniques, difficultly in obtaining reference samples for comparison to determine whether there is a match, the need to provide a controlled environment for taking samples, and difficulty achieving a reliable comparison results. Particular examples of problems encountered in optical fingerprint scanning include dirt and oil being present between the sensor and the person's finger, the orientation of the sensor with respect to the person's finger and insufficient sensitivity in the sensor.
Increasingly, transactions are performed remotely, such as through an Internet website or by telephone. Thus, many goods and services that were traditionally provided only through in-person transactions can now be obtained from a distance. This includes, for example, making purchases and conducting financial transactions such as applying for a loan.
Where a transaction is performed remotely, it is not generally possible to verify a person's identity using photographic identification. Accordingly, the identity of a person attempting such a transaction is typically verified by requiring the person to provide information that only the person should know, such as a password, his or her social security number or mother's maiden name. This type of information, however, can be all too easy for unscrupulous persons to obtain and, thus, such persons may be able to conduct unauthorized transactions. The use of passwords has additional drawbacks due to their proliferation. It is often burdensome for a person to keep track of the multitudes of passwords he or she may be issued by banks, retailers, service providers, employers, governmental and quasi-governmental agencies, etc.
Therefore, what is needed is an improved technique for confirming the identification of a person. It is to these ends that the present invention is directed.